Malthus’ nightscape is nigh, yo-
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Monday, December 26, 2016

tribal uniforms

TRIBAL UNIFORMS

*
note: this is an insanely funny video, an ad for "Poo-Pourri". Far funnier than the unicorn crapper.poo-pourri dinner party ad
*Well, there I was minding
my own business reading Doomstead Diner’s article on our glorious leaders
dressing for success and the whole squalid Peacock Feather Fiasco ( which was a
darn good article, as are most of the Doomstead Diner Dude’s these days.No longer is it just a compilation of guest
articles, much to the gain of lurkers such as myself.Especially recommended is the post-apoc
fiction series ), and I made the mistake of opening my mouth and commenting
that DDD had omitted the entire Uniform As Tribal Marker aspect of
clothing.So of course he advised me to
write up such an article and here we are, taking a break from Frugal
Survivalism and other topics designed to make me look smarter than I first
appear.At first blush it might seem
this has nothing to do with survivalism.But as with many such meanderings ( you try not going off topic a time
or two after a decade of week-daily postings ) it is pertinent in an indirect
fashion.Clothing isn’t just shelter or
a stockpile item, but also an identifier.Tribes and tribal identity are very survivalist related.

*

As we all know, nation
states are energy surplus entities, and a lack of energy means we devolve back
towards tribalism ( Uncle Sam’s PC coated Army has yet to get the message and
is busy fighting tribes as if they were supposed to be armed agents of a fellow
country, evidently refusing to believe fifty thousand deaths in Vietnam
important enough to warrant a serious investigation into forth generation
warfare-not that they ever will as that line of thought is anti-job
security.Poole’s books are helpful
here, as are Lind’s to a smaller extent as he is far less prolific ).Tribal culture is important to
understand.Don’t be a bureaucrat
refusing to see past his blinders.Uniforms and dress codes are merely tribal markers.Even in the most heavily centralized top
heavy military, tribalism is alive and well.Service rivalries, regimental, occupational.Everyone is looking for a ribbon, metal,
badge or piping to distinguish them, the Only Worthy Ones, from all the other
Unworthy.This is Tribal centric.Officers are royalty, enlisted are
peasants.But officers of the Navy are
better than those Neanderthals in the Army, and Ship Officers are superior to
Land Officers.But not all ships are
equal and sub captains are better than most.Etcetera.

*

To understand uniforms as
tribal markers, look no further than Teenagers or Sports Teams.Teens of course are the dumbest boxes of
rocks ever.You can’t imagine how the
human race as a species could even survive, given the behavior of
teenagers.Not that it is their fault,
what with the near lethal levels of hormones their brains are floating in ( at
this level of hormones, the brain serves to keep your body running and to
attempting to procreate, and nothing more like higher cognitive functions
).But that makes them perfect specimens
for this range of behavior.They act
instinctively, without thought, parroting our hunter gatherer ancestors.They need to join a tribe and given our
consumer culture today, buying clothing to go tribal is the perfect fit.The Jocks, Dweebs, Sluts, Goths, Rappers,
whatever, all have an agreed upon uniform of identification.This of course is all a phase and not long
lasting, ending after the hormonal tsunami recedes past flooding stage, and
usually makes absolutely no impact on the rest of their lives ( unless they
enlisted to wear a much better uniform, with the usually unspoken promise of
being able to legally kill something, as an added bonus, unfulfilled ).

*

But they do go on to
assume a new tribal identity as adults.A lot of them lead dull and boring lives, office cubicle drones who dare
not venture too far outside the accepted Corporate Culture even on their off
time and hence adapt the safe and acceptable tribal identity of their local
sports team ( the real rebels identify with a team NOT in their geographical
location! ).Others use more subtle
means of tribal identity.Hair styles,
to some extent, level of clothing cost ( attempts are made, even if in vain, to
dress to a certain economic class ), headgear, piercing and tattoos ( as mush
as Kuntsler derides these two markers, they serve their purposes ).To be sure, a large amount of these costume
creations are ill suited for tribal identity.In a diluting manner individualism cuts into the effectiveness of
uniforms.Since our culture no longer
has any cohesion, nobody adheres as tightly to uniform standards of dress
outside High School anymore.But
notwithstanding its effectiveness, the attempts point towards tribal
identification.

*

Peacock Feathering is
always a factor, inside and outside a tribe.Clothing was a very effective class identifier, and still is to a much
smaller degree.But clothing is just as
powerful of a tribal marker.There is a
lot of truth to “clothing makes the man”.When you dress in a certain way, you do act differently.When a cop puts on his uniform, his mindset
becomes different.He has donned an
authority identifier.Soldiers kitting
up become more aggressive and enabled ( as do sports uniforms to a degree.Putting on that hockey helmet before hitting
the ice isn’t just giving you a sense of cranial protection but placing you in
a team identity-you confer greater ability ).And acting differently just by looking different, however juvenile it
seems at first blush, is beneficial to both the individual and the tribe.It is a shortcut on many different
levels.Not just as a way of
differencing on the battlefield, or identifying cultural actions prior to
performance, but as a unifying tool.Knowing an effect is psychological intellectually is no defense against
the effects emotionally.It works.Do not discount its effects against you, nor
the effects for your tribe.

*

Notice the effects of a
bagpipe playing?The effects of riot
police stomp/dragging as their batons hit their shields ( done properly, this
is unifying/enabling for the police as well as worrying to the intended
victims.Unfortunately the usual
practice of overweight donut eaters lackadaisically shuffling into position
only leaves a slight fear of a beating, without the underlining psychological
impact )?Uniforms work on the same
principles.Pay attention.

END

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14 comments:

I can remember way back in the day (Circa 1980's) when you spotted the first dude wearing an earring, and what a shock that was at the time. He was bold; a trendsetter if you will, boldly going where no man had gone before. And upon seeing the first old guy wearing one, well, that really shocked people! But now you're just another idiot with an earing, and another old fart trying to look young and hip, and sorry to break the news to you, but you look ridiculous, not cool.

That's kind of the irony of the non-conformists. The fact that they're trying to non-conform, is conforming, unless you're one of the early pioneers of that trend. Otherwise, sorry, but you're only succeeding in looking like a first class idiot.

With regards to teenagers, even that demographic has devolved considerably over the years. There was a time when they weren't all that awful. As an example, if I were stranded in a wilderness survival situation, I'd rather have one of the dudes in the first link below, over all of the dudes in the bottom link below :D

We thought we were cool when most of us in the squad got earrings in '84. Then the piercing closed up since we couldn't wear the thing while on duty ( a hidden small rod kept falling out ). To this day, the damn hole hasn't closed all the way up and fills with stinky goop a few times a year. Now THATS cool :)

I managed to avoid the whole peer pressure/trendy thing James, and never got an earring or a tattoo. I always felt that it was better to fly under the radar and look as clean cut as possible. It worked to a point, but I still got the shit harassed out of me as a youth by the police. Funny thing is, we're always told that whites are never harassed by the police on any serious level, but my experiences are different.

But kids today are into some freaky shit. You're not going to convince me that getting a stud in your tongue doesn't hurt like a mother F'er! Then you see the pierced eyebrows, and worse, genitals. It's a mystery to me why people today hate themselves so bad that they like to damage themselves in such a way. The link below is a prime example of what I'm talking about here.

For years I debating whether to get a tattoo or not, finally deciding to get the circled A "anarchy" symbol. Upper arm, under clothing to keep it from sun fading ( and to forestall political prosecution ). I told the guy to draw it the size of a dime, about as small as you could get and still see it. Now THAT hurt like a bitch. Decided to never get another one. I can't even imagine piecing normal parts of my body.

Lord Bison, you must have been reading my mind. I was thinking on this very topic yesterday. Well, I was thinking about forming / joining a "tribe" as a part of my survival strategy. Prepper groups in Australia are not a thing. I believe that there may be a couple but they are hard to find and are also on the Police radar. One guy that I know got a home visit by the Police to explain exactly what he meant in a post he made to a forum. That woke me up to the dangers I put myself in when I'm shooting off my big fat gob on the internet.

I've given up myself. I just hope I have enough food stores for the Old Ladies family as I have to bribe my tribe to form when the time is at hand ( joining a group of preppers gives you a free ride-not having one means you prep for the dumbasses )

* Get 1 years Wheat for immediate Family (IF) (wife & kids) stored away* Get BTN's for IF* Get more Wheat* Get BTN's for extended family (EF) group* Upgrade IF BTN's to middle road* Get more Wheat* Splurge on a nice Yuppie Scum Prep for yourself (because your worth it)

Something like that.

I mean, once you have the basics sorted you upgrade and you have spares to loan out or as fall back talismans.

Basically what I did, but no middle road for EF, and no YSP for myself. But always going for those spares or upping the minimums. A long road but pretty much done now ( which is why I can go to saving cash for that any day now jobless situation )

I prep for dumbasses! Anyway i had to head to Portland for a funeral this year. this Idaho boy felt out of place. i was surprised because I'd ran the streets of san Francisco and Berkley ca. in my youth. Brown rice runs in my veins. So, i hit this coffee shop and in line is a fellow in levis, with a ball cap and no tattoos. I thought he was the first of my tribe to see in many a day, then i notice his levis streach, just as i hear his lispy voice start flerting with the guy behind the counter. Not my tribe.

All parts of Cali in our youths were a lot nicer-we had all the issues of today, but muted and always "in the next city over". Or perhaps it was just wishful thinking/delusion it wasn't the end of the dream. Now you can't deny it.

Clothing is IMHO one of the best tribal markers. Come to visit my land with your radio thumping, hat turned sidewise, pants sagging and bling on your neck and teeth, and I am going to have my gun in my hand. Come to visit while in business suit and tie and I will have my phone on speed dial to my lawyer. Come in jeans or overalls held up where they should be and cap protecting you from the sun, I'll be reaching for the cooler of beer to share a cold one. Such is life and tribal markers. Clothes are a CHOICE and a publicly visible declaration of what you are choosing to do with your time. Around here the community is small enough there is sub-tribes of sports team A or B, Rancher or Tractor king, but no full tribes beyond the community as a whole ( you are are either one of three states with the tribe- Full in aka married to one of the 7 families, or tentative in aka former outsider who has stayed more than a decade and worked to fit in, or temporary outsider aka worker for the border patrol or other major employer who will only be here for a couple years then gone). What is really interesting around here is how the local 7 families relate to the other nearby communities - it is obvious that they send their young to colleges specifically to get outside blood in and get rid of excess youth population. Since I came in already married and with child too young to consider then bought - not a house, but land that I started improving with my own two hands- they really don't quite know what to make of us, add in the no church attendance except the wife helping *all* the churches out with community events and dressing modestly while child behaves more mannerly than the native kids just confuses the heck out of them. :)

Exactly. When they find out they are 'big town' folk as compared to where I grew up they try not to act like they thought the stairs had another step on the day of their prom... On whole 'nother topic, I found out last night why the 2 is one and 1 is none is so important for backups when the rental house furnace died... We still have electric for now but little room heaters cant keep up with the cold in the house as a whole and temps inside have hit the 50s...

How can you have a back-up house furnace? The portable heaters were your back-up ( which most folks don't have ). And if it is a rental, you can't exactly install a wood stove. Although, perhaps indoor propane heaters?

I must moderate-trust me. You don't want to see what happens otherwise. Sometimes it takes awhile to respond as I only check two or three times a day. No N-Bombs, nothing to get me libeled. Otherwise, have at it. If you criticize me, make sure to praise my hair first.